Academic Honesty & Integrity Policy

Last updated February 21, 2006

* The following material is adapted from an earlier draft of a departmental policy prepared by John Dickinson, Spring 2001.

A university community is a community of learning. Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness, honor, and responsibility, without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others. Furthermore, we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of an Idaho degree. Therefore, we shall not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any form.  The University of Idaho has policies that cover academic honesty and the department follows and enforces those policies. 

You should personally be concerned if others cheat.  Whether detected or not, every instance of cheating diminishes the value of the grade you earn and ultimately the value of your degree.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty means presenting, as your own work, material produced by or in collaboration with others, or permitting or assisting others to present your (or others') work as their own without proper acknowledgment.  Proper acknowledgment fully discloses precisely what material was authored by others or authored in collaboration and makes it readily evident what material you authored.

Cheating

Cheating is the unauthorized use of information or study guides in any academic exercise.  Any form of academic deception or any action that attempts to defraud could be considered cheating.  The methods of cheating are varied and well known by students and instructors.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is academic theft.  It refers to the wrongful appropriation, and publication as one's own, of the ideas or the expression of the ideas of another.  An author's work is his/her property and must be respected.  Plagiarism covers written homework, programs, designs, and other creative products, as well as papers and publications.  In certain circumstances it may be permissible to incorporate within your own work, a small portion of or a summary of another author's work provided that the original author and source are properly identified.  Simply modifying or rewording the work of another is still plagiarism if you don't identify from whom and where the ideas came.  Excessive quotation from a work of another may be a violation of the work's copyright.

An excellent source that defines and gives examples of plagiarism can be found at:   http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Collusion

Collusion is any secret agreement or understanding for purposes of trickery or fraud.  Any student who knowingly or intentionally helps another student to perform any of the above acts of cheating or plagiarism can be subject to discipline for academic dishonesty.  There is no distinction between those who cheat and plagiarize and those who assist it.  The unauthorized sharing of program code for an assignment is an example of collusion.

Fabrication

Fabrication is the intentional creation and falsification of data or results.  Fabrication is another serious form of academic dishonesty.  Using a word processor to generate material that looks like the output that should be produced by a computer programming assignment is an example of fabrication.

What is acceptable?

Unless otherwise indicated by your instructor, it is acceptable to discuss the general meaning or intention of an assignment with another student.  It is also permissible to discuss the general techniques or approaches that are applicable to the assignment.  Any discussion beyond this, such as a discussion of a specific solution strategy, is not acceptable.  For example, unless indicated otherwise by your instructor it is not acceptable to share design or solution representations such as pseudo code, structure charts, flowcharts, or class diagrams, nor is it acceptable to share or discuss your code with another student.  It is not acceptable to engage the services of another person to write all or part of your program.  It may be acceptable to engage the services of another person to talk through a specific problem you are having with your program design or code provided you do not show them the details of your design or code and do not give them knowledge that will provide them with material benefit from having discussed your problem.  The critical point here is that you are to do your own work, not have someone else do it for you, and that you do not aid another in an unacceptable way.

Procedures

The following list identifies several circumstances that may raise questions as to whether the expectations for academic honesty have been violated:

Consequences

University policy states:  "Because academic honesty and integrity are core values at a university, the faculty finds that even one incident of academic dishonesty seriously and critically endangers the essential operation of the university and may merit expulsion."  All of us, faculty and students, are responsible for maintaining academic standards and integrity in classes. As your course instructor, University policy requires me to assess when breaches of academic standards have occurred and when convincing evidence is present, include consequences for violation into your grade.  The most sever assessment permitted is a grade of "F" for the course.   Recommendations for additional action(s) may be submitted to the Student Judicial System for consideration.